Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Piquant Sauce (another way). — Dissolve an ounce and a half of butter in a small saucepan over a moderate fire. Throw in a tablespoonful of chopped onions, and stir them about for two minutes, sprinkle a tea-spoonful of flour over them, and beat it with the back of a wooden spoon to prevent it getting into lumps. Add half a pint of stock or broth, a small bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, and a quarter of a tea-spoonful of cayenne. Simmer gently for twenty minutes, then lift out the herbs, pour in half a wine-glassful of vinegar, and add a little pepper and salt if required; let all boU up together, and serve. Probable cost, 6d. Sufficient for nearly three-quarters of a pint of sauce. Piquant Sauce (another way). — Mix together a table-spoonful of minced capers and a table-spoonful of chopped parsley. Put with them six anchovies which have been boned and pounded, the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, and a table-spoonful of dry mustard. Rub these ingredients with the back of a. wooden spoon until they are smoothly mixed, then press them through a coarse sieve. Add a pinch of cayenne, and moisten the whole with two table-spoonfuls of oil and two of vinegar. Stir the paste into half a pint of stock or melted butter ; let it boil, strain it, and it is. ready for serving. Time, half an hour. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for nearly three-quarters of a pint of sauce. Piquant Sauce for Storing.— The month of August is the best time for making this sauce, and it should not be used for fully three months after it is made. Take equal quantities of young walnuts and large mushrooms; put them into separate pans, bruise them well, and whilst bruising sprinkle a little salt in with them. A pound of salt will be sufficient for a peck of mushrooms and a hundred and fifty walnuts. Let them lie for a week, turning and bruising them frequently ; then press them well, and drain off the liquor. Boil it separately until the scum ceases to rise. Measure it, and mix it in equal quantities, and with each pint of the mixed liquid put a pint of vinegar, half a blade of mace, four allspice, two cloves, a quarter of an ounce of ginger, as much. cayenne as will lie on a threepenny piece, half a salt-spoonful of mustard seed, a clove of garlic, and three shallots. BoU and skim the sauce for twenty minutes. Pour it out, and when cold strain it, and mix with each pint a glassful of port, a quarter of a pint of claret, and a tablespoonful of soy. Put the liquid into small bottles, cork and seal them securely, and store — as indeed should be done with all such preparations — in a cool, dry place. Probable cost, uncertain. PISTACHIO NUTS. Pistachio Cream. — Blanch and peel a quarter of a pound of pistachio nuts, and pound them to a smooth paste, with a little rose or orange-flower water. Stir the paste into a pint of thick cream, add a table- spoonful of sugar and a table-spoonful of brandy, and stir the mixture over a gentle flre until it is on the point of boiling. Pour it out, and when cold serve in a glass dish or in glasses, with a few pistachios, blanched and cut into long narrow strips, sprinkled on the top. Probable cost. PIS (579) PLA 2s. lOd. Sufficient for a little more than a pint of cream.